I've seen claims of the phoenicians reaching incredibly distant lands, I don't doubt they were great sailors as the trade networks of the cities extended far in the mediterranean, but what's the validity of these claims?

Most sources about the expeditions are Greek translations of accounts made by the phoenicians themselves (wich tended to exaggerate or miscalculate the scopes of their voyages) or occasional mentions by Greco-Roman geographers, wich are incomplete. I've never heard any academic claim they made it that deep into the Indic ocean, far less reaching the americas, although they were familiar with the wind currents wich would have allowed them to reach to what is now Brazil, and they probably knew in some to some extent the southernmost point of Africa and Britain. I don't really see a reason why they would make such an extended journey that is corrobated by available evidence.

/r/badhistory Thread